The Sweeper: Should heads roll for the U.S.’s defeat?

Mexico’s 2-1 defeat of the U.S. last night is the talk of the town (Du Nord rounds up all the coverage). In his usual fashion, Jamie Tecker at Fox Soccer rips into the governing body for the defeat, writing that “U.S. Soccer seems unable or unwilling to make a change at the top, so it won’t likely be the coach.” Trecker sees the defeat as part of a pattern of failure in big games, also citing the losses to Brazil in the Confederations Cup final and to Mexico again in the Gold Cup final.

By the end of the piece, Trecker has connected these dots into a pattern threatening the entire future of the sport here.

Keep in mind that sports fans have been burned repeatedly by the hype. They keep tuning in after being told they’re going to see something special. And every time (outside of the Spain match), they’re presented with a group of guys who can’t win the big game. The fact is, these performances — if left unchecked — will kill the sport in America.

That fact seems lost on soccer executives, who keep claiming that these failures are “learning experiences. They’re not. They’re confirmation of America’s inability to grow up and take this sport seriously. And that’s why the USA will continue to lose the big game.

This seems a rather remarkable conclusion. It seems to be based on the premise that fans do not understand the context of each big game: everyone watching the Confederations Cup final knew the quality of Brazil and that running them close was an excellent performance. Most who took the trouble to tune into the Gold Cup final (which wasn’t exactly hyped to the moons) would have realised the U.S. was not fielding its first team. And everyone knew that winning in Azteca was not something the U.S. had ever done. Moreover, if the U.S. is destined to always lose the Big Game under Bradley, how does he explain the 2007 Gold Cup final win over Mexico, the 2-0 win over Mexico in Columbus just six months ago (which was far more of a must-win than last night’s game, as the U.S. never banked on taking any points from the Azteca) or the win over Spain in the Confederations Cup?

US Soccer and the World Cup bid committee has launched its World Cup bid website, gobidusa.com, a flashy site with a neat timeline of US soccer history and a rather obvious play on words plastered all over it (The Game is in US…Get it?).

But while a huge amount of money is being pumped into the bid and the future of American soccer, the past is in danger of being forgotten: the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta, New York is in danger of being closed down. The The 40,000-square-foot facility was opened only ten years ago, but the facility is not paying for itself and in the short-term will be reducing public hours and may be closed altogether.

Benfica signs Justin Mapp! And many other strange and curious players! In an amusing stunt, Benfica’s official site was hacked so that users could announce their own official signings on the site. Hilariously, MLS Rumors bought the story and published it; when they realised they had been fooled, they didn’t do the simple thing and issue a retraction, but simply took the page down altogether. Brilliant! (and here it was)

David Bentley of Spurs was arrested last night for drink-driving, after he veered into a lamp-post. His statement of contrition says that “I fully appreciate that as a professional footballer I have a duty to behave in a reputable and responsible manner” is a little odd — if he wasn’t a footballer, would he not have to be responsible and be free to drink and drive? Whoever’s doing his PR should really consider a new career.

It’s absolutely true that the US Men’s national team teases us with greatness from time to time. It’s maddening, it really is.

It’s absolutely NOT true that “The fact is, these performances — if left unchecked — will kill the sport in America.”

First off, it’s not a fact. Trecker can’t tell the difference between fact and opinion.

And nothing’s going to KILL the sport in America. That’s MY opinion. But it has more behind it than his silly Bob Bradley vendetta and sky-is-falling crap that he always trots out.

August 13, 2009 at 3:32 pmrw

“Keep in mind that sports fans have been burned repeatedly by the hype. They keep tuning in after being told they’re going to see something special.”

Really? How much hype was there around a game that was only just barely even televised in English? That’s where heads should be rolling. How could television rights to that game been allowed to take that direction? It’s appalling. Situations like that are much more threatening to the sport in this country than if people had actually been able to watch us lose a close game in a place we’ve never won.

That said, I do believe we need to get over the psychological barrier with Azteca. Yes, it’s an extremely hard place to play, but it seems clearly to be in our heads, given that otherwise we’ve been pretty much dominating Mexico recently.

Romário is not going to play for a second division team. América is in Rio de Janeiro state’s second division. Although that championship is not directly connected to the national ladder, it’s more like the sixth division of brazilian football.

Brazil has 4 national divisions. Then, it has state championships that can have from 1 up to 6 divisions. Clubs from any national division play together in the state championship and the first division of the state championship qualifies for the 4th national division. So you can consider 1st division state championships as a 5th division and América’s division would be a 6th level.

August 14, 2009 at 8:07 amTK

Jamie Trecker is the most negative piece of crap journalist that we have swarming around the game in our country. His views are completely and utterly worthless. He must be a miserable human being to be around.

Bradley, for me, has been a disappointment. Yes, he’s won some matches of note (the 2007 Gold Cup on home soil, for example), but sooner or later the USMNT is going to need a ‘1980 Olympic hockey’ moment to vault the sport over the top in the States. Football fans know better because they know how hard it is, but the average American sports fan who picks up the paper and sees his national team has lost 3-1 to Costa Rica probably isn’t going to be terribly impressed.

It’s just a fact of life. Americans love what’s hot, and until Bradley’s team does something really impressive on the international stage, we won’t reach our potential in terms of media and public attention. A win at Azteca would certainly have qualified, as would holding on against Brazil. Neither one happened.

As for Bradley, I see an average manager running an average national side and getting average results, Confed Cup excepted. With the talent we’re starting to generate, it’s time to ask for, and expect, better. If that means getting a foreign manager again, that is what it means.